The disclosure concerns a method and a device for error handling in a printer or copier. Occurring error states are transferred to a controller.
In modularly designed printer and copier systems, a plurality of modules are often affected by occurring errors. Each of these modules then generates an error message independent of the other modules and transmits this to a central controller of the printer or copier system. If the printer or copier system is connected with a central host system, for example a print spooler, these error messages are output both to the host system and to the printer or copier system itself, for example to a display unit of the printer or copier system. Multiple messages are thereby output to the host system and to a control panel or a control console of the printer or copier system that hamper the detection of the causative error, for example for an operating personnel, due to the multitude and unclearness of the of the error messages. The host system can, for example, also react to a plurality of these error messages, whereby further problems can be created such as, for example, a multiple continuation of the interrupted printer or copier job, whereby print images still to be printed are doubly generated. An error protocol that is typically maintained in the printer or copier system, for example as a log file, also generally contains all of these error messages, whereby the evaluation of this log file after a recording over a longer period of time is nearly impossible. The multitude of these error messages also hampers a reaction to the automatic error correction by the printer or copier system.
In known printer or copier systems, messages of occurring errors have been output directly via a control console and have simultaneously been transferred to a host system. The evaluation of the errors has generally been ceded to the operating personnel.
The individual modules transmit error messages in the temporal sequence of the detection. It is thus difficult for an operating personnel to decide which errors are causative and which are consecutive faults. Thus, for example, a paper jam of a single page in the printer or copier system is first detected when, for example, a single page does not reach a light barrier. Depending on the light barrier separation and paper speed, to some extent a plurality of seconds pass until the detection of the error. Consequent errors, for example in the region of the printing group, sometimes occur before the light barrier notices the paper jam. The consequent error in the region of the printing group is thereby reported before the error of the paper jam.
If an error message is transmitted to the host system, an intervention of the operating personnel is necessary both at the host system and at the printer or copier system in order to continue the printer or copier process. This is also necessary when the error state no longer exists or the printer or copier system has itself remedied the error state and only a confirmation handling of the operating personnel is necessary at the host system and at the printer or copier system.
From the patent document U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,379 B1 by the applicant, a method is known for operation of a high-capacity printer with support given error states. The error states detected by monitoring units are divided into at least two error classes. The access to special information, at least given error states of the second error class, occurs via an access authorization procedure. Support is given both to the operating personnel in the correction of simple errors and to qualified technicians in the correction of major or complicated error causes to be remedied. The content of U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,379 B1 is herewith incorporated by reference into the present specification. However, a support upon determination of the error cause when a plurality of monitoring units determine successive error states is not known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,379 B1.
A method and a device to correct errors in an electronic reproduction system are known from the document DE 691 25 677 T2. At least one error is detected during the normal operating module. This error is subsequently grouped into at least one error group, whereby a set of particular correction and reproduction instructions is associated with the error group.
A method for error handling in a printer or copier is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,379 B1. Given an occurred error, it is checked whether this is to be immediately remedied by an operating personnel or whether a specialized technician is necessary for correction.